Riverside, San Diego counties more diverse

Riverside County is getting younger as San Diego County begins
to gray, but both counties are becoming more ethnically diverse,
according to a new report being released today by the U.S. Census
Bureau.

After joining the ranks of U.S. counties without a majority
ethnic group early this decade, Riverside County is quickly
approaching the day when the number of Latinos will match the
county's white population.

As of July 1, 2006, 45.6 percent of the county's population was
white and 42.8 percent was Latino, according to the report, based
on a Census survey.

Whites still constitute a majority in San Diego County. But
their 57.5 percent share of the county's residents, as of the time
the 2000 Census was taken, has declined to 53.7 percent. And that
trend will continue, said Ed Schafer, a demographer for the San
Diego Association of Governments, a planning agency.

"By the end of this decade there won't be a majority ethnic
group in the county," Schafer said. "And probably, about 20 years
from now, the Hispanic and white populations are going to be about
the same size. Riverside County is almost there now. The whole
state is moving in that direction."

Indeed, so is much of the country.

For the first time, the report states, in more than 300 counties
nationwide - or nearly one out of every 10 - minorities outnumber
whites. The Census said eight counties were added to the list in
2006, the largest being Denver County in Colorado.

Los Angeles County continues to possess the nation's largest
minority population at 7 million.

At the same time, San Diego County is mirroring another trend,
as its baby boomers - members of the post-war generation who were
born between 1946 and 1964 - get older, Schafer said. The impact of
their middle-age birthdays is only partially being offset by the
births of new babies and the arrival of young families from foreign
countries. As a result, the report shows, the county's average age
increased from 33 in 2000 to 34 last year.

"What's happening in San Diego is what's happening all across
the county," said Hans Johnson, chief demographer for the Public
Policy Institute of California, a San Francisco think tank that
tracks major California trends and issues.

Adding to the aging trend, many children of San Diego boomers
are leaving for greener pastures - economically, at least - in
states such as Arizona and Nevada, and in Riverside County. That,
in turn, is helping Riverside County to buck the aging trend. Its
average age, the Census report shows, declined from 33.1 in 2000 to
31.7.

The daunting task of finding an affordable home that faces many
young San Diego County families is a key reason for Riverside
County's youthfulness, said Mario Garrett, director of the Center
on Aging at San Diego State University.